


The cat that chose us

by JadeNightTheWriter



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: (you could read this as platonic if you were desperate), ... the summary is way to dramatic for this, Aged-Up Character(s), Cats, Fluff, KaiShin Secret Santa 2020, M/M, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash, but i like it so shh, that part isn't very important but just so you know, you know the shared cat trope?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28096056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeNightTheWriter/pseuds/JadeNightTheWriter
Summary: Kaito was on his way home from the grocery store when he tripped over the cat, sitting smugly on his doormat.Shinichi had just turned off the kettle when a tapping sound caught his attention. He turned to the source of the noise, catching sight of a large white persian cat perched on his windowsill.One cat can change everything.
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Comments: 8
Kudos: 92
Collections: dcmkkaishinevents kaishin secret santa 2020





	The cat that chose us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nagiru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nagiru/gifts).



> I'm so happy to be your Secret Santa this year :D the fic was a ton of fun to write! I saw the prompt and immediately decided to write it ^-^ it's a really fantastic idea and I hope I did it justice. Happy Holidays, everyone! Enjoy :)

Kaito was on his way home from the grocery store when he tripped over the cat, sitting smugly on his doormat. It had long, snow white fur and bright spring green eyes, which stared unblinkingly at him when he glared at it.

He looked closer, and his glare softened into something concerned. The cat was female, and her fur was a mess, little bits of dirt and leaves tangled in the silky strands.

Sighing, Kaito crouched by her and held out a hand. He’d give her a bath and some food—and make sure she stayed _far_ away from his doves—and then call an animal shelter in the morning. She sniffed warily at him, before nuzzling his fingers, a tiny pink tongue sneaking out to lick his palm.

“Aren’t you a friendly one?” Kaito asked, smiling. He stood up to unlock his door, and barely managed to catch a glimpse of her white blur as she darted into his apartment.

“ _Hey_ —”

Kaito hurried in after her, worried about his doves, but by the time he found her, settled comfortably on his couch, his newest bird was already nestled close, cooing softly. The cat turned wide eyes to him, with an expression he recognized like Aoko’s whenever one of his doves came up to her. Pure, innocent delight.

He smiled softly at the cat, deciding to leave her alone for a little bit. The bath could always come later, and besides, he had his groceries to put away anyway.

By the time he’d carefully combed out every last bit of dirt and picked every leaf out of the cat’s fur, every single one of his doves had become inseparably attached to the white cat. Several of them eyed him suspiciously when he opened his laptop to search for the nearest animal shelter. Kaito ended up looking for nearby vets to check if the cat was vaccinated.

“Looks like I’m keeping you,” Kaito said to her, smiling as one of the more playful doves pecked her ear and flapped away, chittering. “What should I name you, hmm?”

The cat, of course, offered no suggestions. Kaito rested his chin on his hand, watching her tail swish back and forth, like a miniature flag.

“Something pretty… like a gem,” he mused out loud. “Luna… Pandora?”

Kaito laughed, scratching her ears tightly. “Nah, I won’t curse you like that. Hmm… oh! Kirin?”

She perked up, wide eyed, and let out a small _mrow_ noise, scrunching up her face slightly. 

“You like it?”

“Meow.”

“Kirin-chan it is,” Kaito decided.

Kirin fit surprisingly well into his life—playing with his doves, distracting him from his heist planning, and discovering little trinkets that he’d lost and forgotten about. She was a bright, happy thing that tumbled through his days, setting them apart from the usual work-eat-sleep-heist-repeat cycle he’d been stuck in since graduating high school, broken only with Aoko’s occasional visit. 

A week later, he trusted her enough to let her run around while he was out doing errands, and she went with him to the street corner and then bounded off, presumably to explore. 

Kaito rolled his eyes fondly, giving her a gentle poke in the side. 

“Okay, now go have fun doing whatever you do. Remember, _no_ bird eating, and _no_ stealing.”

“ _Meow_.”

Kaito watched as Kirin bounded away, leaping onto a fence and nimbly scampering along the top. She vanished around a corner, and Kaito turned back to his phone, reading the latest article on his heist notice. He could probably get the heist done in time for Kirin’s dinner.

* * *

Shinichi was decidedly not happy about this latest case. He hadn’t had his coffee, and Haibara’s computer was testing a new security program, meaning he had to wait a longer time for her analysis to come in. He glared at the case files, before deciding that caffeinated tea would do in place of coffee—and would be much better than staring at the gruesome pictures of the crime scenes.

He made his way to the small kitchen in his apartment, and filled an electric kettle with water, setting it on the stand and plugging it in. 

As Shincihi waited for it to boil, he gazed out the large window absently, watching a small breeze ruffle the plants in his window box—which, coincidentally, he needed to water.

Shinichi had just turned off the kettle when a tapping sound caught his attention. He turned to the source of the noise, catching sight of a large white persian cat perched on his windowsill. It had both paws raised, batting lightly at the glass.

Frowning, Shinichi turned away again. It looked well-groomed, he’d bet it was just one of his neighbor’s pets.

He returned to his case files, and was rather surprised to find the cat still there when he returned for a second mug of tea. It stared at him with bright green eyes, as if begging to be let inside. 

“I don’t care how cute you are,” Shinichi said sternly. “I’m not letting you inside. You have an owner, go back to them.”

Ten minutes later, Shinichi was searching the internet for cat-safe foods, as the cat pranced around his living room, poking her nose in every small crevice she could find. 

* * *

“And you really decided to name her Conan?”

“Yes Haibara, I did,” Shinichi said, locking his apartment door behind him, holding the phone in his other hand. 

Haibara sighed. “You have no taste. I’m assuming either your mother or Ran helped organize the apartment, not you.” 

“Yes, actually, but that’s not the _point_ ,” Shinichi argued. “The point is that Conan is a perfectly nice name.”

“Poor cat,” she said dryly. Shinichi rolled his eyes, despite the fact that she couldn’t see him. 

“Take care Haibara,” he said. “I’m hanging up now. Bye.”

Slipping his phone into his pocket, Shinichi watched Conan walk alongside him for a bit. They reached the end of the block, and she perked up, tail twitching. 

“Conan?” Shinichi asked. “What’s wro— _hey, wait!_ ”

Shinichi chased after her as she took off down the street. She abruptly stopped a few blocks away, nuzzling the legs of an unfamiliar person. They looked oddly familiar, despite the fact that their face was hidden behind a black baseball cap. 

“Conan,” Shinichi grumbled as he came within earshot of the two. He turned back to the new person—male, he noticed, and probably about his age. “Sorry about my cat.” 

The man blinked. “Your cat?” 

“Yep,” Shinichi said. He held out a hand to Conan, who immediately tried to pounce on it. “She likes to run off, sorry if it bothered you.” 

“No I didn’t mean that,” he said. “I mean this is _my_ cat.” 

“I’m… pretty sure I wouldn’t confuse my cat for another one,” Shinichi started, and then paused, squinting at the other man. “Wait.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Kid,” Shinichi hissed. “ _What_ are you _doing_ here.” 

“I’m not Kid,” he said, in a tone of voice that suggested he was very familiar with saying those words. 

“Yes, you are,” Shinichi argued. 

Kid stared at him for a moment, then sighed. 

“Kuroba,” he said. “My name is Kuroba Kaito, nice to meet you.” 

“Kudo Shinichi,” Shinichi said automatically, and added, “but you already knew that.” 

“Of course,” Kid— _Kaito_ —agreed easily. “Everyone knows who you are. But see, that’s not the point here. The point is, my cat is also somehow yours, and I’m starting to suspect that I’m not the only one with a double life.”

“You _just_ —okay forget it, you’re Kid. You always do that.”

“Do what?”

“You know,” Shinichi waved a hand at him. “Where you admit something but you still deny it like the criminal you are.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” Kaito said, just a bit too innocently.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “Forget it, Kid. How much do you bet that Conan is sneaking between our homes?”

“That would explain why she runs off all the time,” Kaito huffed, turning to glare at her. “Greedy cat. Maybe I _should_ have named you Pandora.”

Shinichi blinked. “Pandora?”

“Inside joke,” Kaito said, waving a hand. “Never mind.”

“Of course,” Shinichi said doubtfully. “Well, how much are you feeding her? We can’t have her eating too much.” 

“ _And_ we need to choose a name,” Kaito added. “Knowing you, I’ll bet you named her after Holmes.”

“Well…” Shinichi began, and Kaito groaned. 

“Tell me you didn’t, please.” 

“I named her Conan.” 

“ _Why?_ ” Kaito asked the sky. “Do you need a daily reminder of your past height issues?” 

“Conan is a nice name,” Shinichi said, frowning. 

“No, it’s really not,” Kaito sighed. “That cat. I will stuff her on a boat and leave her there.” 

“I’ll put you in jail for that,” Shinichi grumbled. 

“But you couldn’t catch me~” Kaito teased. “Come on, you can come to my apartment. Then we can talk about the… cat thing.” 

Shinichi picked up Conan and followed him to his door without much protest. A welcome mat lay in front of it, and he rolled his eyes when he spotted the pattern. Clovers. Of course. Kaito unlocked the door, opening it and bowing, tipping his hat at Shinichi. 

“Welcome, Meitantei.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes, stepping past him to peer around the room. “Do you have to be so dramatic?” 

“Of course,” Kaito grinned. “It’s what a magician does.”

“Hmm,” Shinichi said, but he was smiling too.

Kaito waved a hand at the apartment. “Feel free to look around.” 

“Are you sure you don’t have any secret things to hide?” Shinichi asked, raising an eyebrow. Kaito mimicked him, even changing his posture to match Shinichi’s. 

“Are you sure you can _find_ the secret things?” 

“Was that a challenge?” 

“Perhaps,” Kaito shrugged. “Oh, I named her Kirin, by the way. So if she doesn’t respond to ‘Conan’ you’ll know why.”

“Kirin… like the heist?”

Kaito winked at him, which was enough of an answer. Shinichi shook his head and sighed. What were the chances that he’d meet Kid again, through a _cat_ of all things. The animal in question purred, curling up in a patch of sunshine, blissfully unaware of her two owners’ thoughts.

* * *

Kaito was surprised how easy it was to get along with the detective. He’d assumed that he would never see him again after he returned to his original body, maybe just a glimpse here and there. More than that though, he was surprised how much he’d missed this. 

They fell back easily into their old conversation pattern, little hints and nudges at their secrets, but never outright saying anything. Occasionally, Kirin would bounce up to one of them and then flouce off to play with his doves. 

“So?” Shinichi asked, after they’d been talking for a while. “How’s the search going?”

“Eh, slow progress, but I’m getting there,” Kaito shrugged, rolling a penny over his fingers. 

“And you’re staying safe?” Shinichi asked. 

Kaito beamed. “Of course I am.” 

“ _Not_ ,” Shinichi finished for him. “You _never_ stay safe.” 

“Aww, were you worried for me?” Kaito rested his chin on his hands, tilting his head sideways to examine Shinichi’s face. “That’s sweet.” 

“I hate you,” Shinichi said, looking away. “And no.” 

Kaito just smiled at him. “Of course, Meitantei.” 

* * *

“Shinichi!” Kaito called, poking his head into the apartment. The door to the detective’s room opened slowly, and he glared tiredly at him, his hair messy from sleep. 

“Kid, why are you here?” he grumbled, as Kaito magicked away his lockpicks and shut the door behind him.

“I’m _Kaito_ right now,” he said. “And I brought Kirin-chan!” 

“No,” Shinichi muttered. “Go away. I was having a nice sleep, I don’t need you here.”

“I brought coffee,” Kaito offered, beaming. “Besides, wouldn’t it be cruel to kick an innocent, helpless phantom thief outside at two in the morning?” 

“You’re neither innocent _nor_ helpless,” Shinichi scoffed. “And you’re the one who’s even awake at two.” 

Kaito shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to bother you.” 

“How considerate,” Shinichi grumbled. 

“Of course!”

“I hate you, _goodnight_ ,” Shinichi announced, turning around. “There’s a blanket on the couch, go sleep there.” 

“But Shin-chan—” Kaito protested. 

“Nope. I can’t hear you, it’s just Kirin, I’m going to sleep.”

Kaito had to laugh at that, as the detective turned around and sulked off to his room. He plopped himself onto the couch, letting Kirin bound into his lap and curl against him, tail brushing his arm when he moved to pet her. 

The moonlight peeked through the curtains, casting a bar of light across the room. Kaito smiled, closing his eyes for a moment. This was the happiest he’d been in a while, since he’d last seen the detective. 

“Thank you, Kirin,” he whispered, opening his eyes. “You brought Shinichi back.” 

He received a soft purr in response. Kaito reached into his pocket and pulled out the stone from his latest heist, a bright blue sapphire. Inside, when the moonlight brushed its jeweled surface, was a blood red core. 

“I’m glad I didn’t name you Pandora,” he said, and grinned. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic went from just under the minimum word count to over 2k and I- hmm yeah fics tend to get out of hand. Let me know what you thought! Or if you have any questions :)
> 
> (Btw, title is from the quote "cats choose us, we don't choose them". I found multiple sources, so please let me know if you know the person who said it.)


End file.
